


(I'm Waking Up) To Ash and Dust

by dressedupasmyself



Series: 30 Days of Klaroline (June 2020) [2]
Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Caroline adopts a cat, F/M, Fluff, Klaus Mikaelson Has A Heart, Self-Indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:40:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24487600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dressedupasmyself/pseuds/dressedupasmyself
Summary: “Something moved in your pocket,” Elijah remarked lazily, barely looking up from the journal he was reading. “Have you informed Niklaus?”orCaroline adopts a stray, and she has no intention of taking no for an answer.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Series: 30 Days of Klaroline (June 2020) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1770547
Comments: 27
Kudos: 326





	(I'm Waking Up) To Ash and Dust

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from the song 'Radioactive' by Imagine Dragons.
> 
> This might be the most self-indulgent piece of teeth-rotting fluff I've ever written. I refuse to apologise.

She found her behind a box next to a dumpster.

Caroline had been on her way home when she’d heard the soft cry. Unable to resist, she went to investigate.

She was pale grey and oh, so tiny. She purred the moment Caroline touched her, careful not to hurt her. She found it strange. Ever since she’d died, animals have shied away from her. She couldn’t pet Matt’s dog or go near Bonnie’s rabbits without them going ballistic.

She thought it a testament to the abuse this kitten must have survived to implicitly trust a monster like herself. She cradled her to her chest and flashed to the nearest veterinary clinic.

They were quiet, thankfully, so she only had to deal with the growl of a fierce-looking pitbull strapped to its owner in the waiting room. It seemed to be normal behaviour for the dog, and Caroline shot the woman a reassuring smile.

A little compulsion at the front desk and she found herself laying the trembling little ball of fur onto a table.

“And you found her abandoned? How long ago?”

The vet was a stern-looking woman in her thirties. Caroline felt at ease with her.

“Maybe five minutes?”

The vet looked like she wanted to inquire how Caroline made it into her care so fast, but Caroline stopped her.

“Look, just tell me what I have to do to keep the cat.”

The vet explained the procedure to Caroline. She mentioned the cost, which Caroline waved off. She’d charge it onto the credit card that was conveniently still in her pants pocket (sorry, Elijah).

The kitten evidently did not enjoy being poked and prodded, and her fur stood in angry spikes as she hissed at anything she could see.

“She’ll need a lot of love.” The vet stroked a finger down the cat’s forehead.

Elijah was the only one home.

Caroline tried to greet him casually, as if she didn’t have a warm lump hidden in the pocket of her hoodie.

With Elijah being Elijah, she failed spectacularly.

“Something moved in your pocket,” he remarked lazily, barely looking up from the journal he was reading. “Have you informed Niklaus?”

Caroline sat down in an armchair in a huff. The kitten poked her curious little head out of Caroline’s jacket, but made no move to climb out of the cosy space. Caroline softly grazed the kitten’s head, eyes widening in awe as she started to purr.

“Please can I keep her, Elijah?”

Elijah’s voice was thick with amusement when he spoke again.

“I’m afraid that’s not up to me, unless you’re in the mood for another Alpha-Male-Brotherly-Bonding-Session. Though I’d never refuse a chance to stand up to Niklaus, I’m feeling rather lazy today, and the situation is not dire enough for me to abandon my reading material in favour of having my liver ripped out.”

“He won’t say no.” Caroline was certain. “I’ll convince him.”

Rebekah loved her immediately.

“She’s the sweetest thing.”

“Would you like to hold her?”

The kitten was asleep, and barely let out a mew when Caroline transferred her to Rebekah’s arms.

“I will kill for this animal,” Rebekah declared.

Caroline couldn’t help but agree.

“I will kill _Klaus_ if he doesn’t let me keep her, immortality be damned.”

Rebekah’s smirk spoke magnitudes of the respect she had for Caroline. “I believe you.”

Klaus came home smelling of blood and dirt, and he barely glanced at his family before heading for the shower.

Both Elijah and Rebekah looked at Caroline expectantly.

She waited in the window seat, curled around the kitten, who seemed to be sleeping again, tucked into Caroline’s sleeve.

When Klaus opened the bathroom door, a cloud of steam escaped into the room. It smelled like him, and Caroline had to resist taking a deep breath. She missed him when he was gone for too long, but she would be loath to admit it, especially to him. Klaus had enough ego to sustain a small village.

He noticed her, of course. He rarely failed to notice her, even after seven decades.

“Hello, love.” He placed a kiss on top of her head, then slotted himself into the space in front of her. Their legs tangled, and she let her free hand rest on his knee. “Don’t think I’m not aware of the thing you’re hiding in your jacket.”

Caroline scrunched up her nose. “I’m keeping her.”

Klaus’s forehead crinkled with the raise of his eyebrows. “Are you, now?”

“Yes.”

Her voice left no room for argument.

“May I meet the creature that I am to be stuck sharing you with for the foreseeable future?”

Caroline hesitated. “I found her with the trash.”

“Oh?”

“She was all teeth when I took her to the vet. Somebody hurt her real bad.”

Klaus’s eyes were intense on hers.

“Yet she’s calm at your touch.” He rested his hand on hers. “Introduce me.”

Caroline shifted, coaxing the kitten from her hiding place. She was reluctant, but soon her blue, blue eyes were trained on a matching set.

“Hello, little one.” Klaus reached out a finger to let the kitten sniff him. “Caroline would be very unhappy if I hurt you.”

The kitten mewed, then clumsily crawled over Caroline’s legs into Klaus’s lap. She curled herself up into a ball and fell asleep with an adorable exhale.

“Very well.” Klaus was extraordinarily gentle, and Caroline knew that had there been anybody else in the room with them, the conversation would have gone in an entirely different direction. “Does she have a name?”

“You don’t have a problem with me keeping her?”

Caroline hadn’t intended to back off without a fight, but she was still surprised at how pliant he was about the whole thing.

“Cats only live twenty-odd years, Caroline.” His smirk was wicked. “I’ll be around much, much longer.”

They named her Ash. She liked to jump up on Klaus’s shoulder whenever he fought with his siblings, hissing violently at Elijah or Rebekah or Kol.

Caroline thought she did a better job at deescalating conflict than a dagger dipped in real ash ever did. And if Klaus got up at midnight to open their bedroom door for Ash to crawl between them, his arm protective over the both of them, she wouldn’t tell a soul about it.


End file.
